


The Marriage of Knut

by MrProphet



Category: The Saga of Noggin the Nog
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 15:32:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10699902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrProphet/pseuds/MrProphet





	The Marriage of Knut

In the lands of the North, where the black rocks stand guard against the cold sea, in the dark night that is very long, the Men of the Northlands sit by their great log fires and they tell a tale.

They tell of a prince and how he sailed on a mysterious island beyond the cold seas to the edge of the world to bring home the most unlikely bride imaginable.

Knut Nogginson was the name of the prince. He was the son of the great and wise king, Noggin the Nog, and his bride Nooka, daughter of Nan of the Nooks.

Noggin had ruled the Nogs for many years when his son came of age. Noggin was a man of the north, with golden hair and blue eyes, while Queen Nooka was a woman of the Midnight Sun, with raven hair and eyes as dark as treacle. Knut was somewhere between the two, with amber eyes and light brown hair, and as his mother was beautiful and his father handsome, it was no surprise that Knut had grown into a fine young man, but although the maidens of the Northlands smiled warmly when they looked at him, his smiles were wavering and his eyes were always sad.

Noggin watched his son grow and he worried every time he saw the sadness in his eyes. He worried even more when Knut showed no sign of marrying, for among the Nogs it was the law that the king must be married, and there were many – not least Noggin's wicked uncle Nogbad – who would delight to see Knut disinherited.

“I wish I knew what made him so unhappy,” Noggin said to his wife.

“I know,” Nooka replied.

And so Noggin called his son to the great hall of the Nogs, and Knut stood before the thrones of his parents with sadness in his amber eyes. Noggin's wise counsellors sat with them – Thor Noggson, the captain of the guard; Olaf the Lofty, the court inventor; and Ronf, the little man from the Hot Water Valley who had accompanied Noggin on so many adventures – and Old Graculus, the royal bird of the Nogs, perched between the thrones.

“What troubles you, my son,” Noggin asked.

“Nothing father,” Knut replied with a sigh.

“Knut, you should not lie to your father,” Nooka said gently, “nor to yourself. When I was young, I had a dream; a dream of a man with golden hair and eyes as blue as ice. There was no man like that in the Land of the Midnight Sun and I wept that I would never know him. That is the sadness I see I you, my son.”

Noggin sat up straight. “Is this true, Knut? Are you in love with a dream?”

Knut sighed. “I wish it were so simple, father. If I were in love with a dream I could sail out and seek for her, as you did, or send my friend, Young Graculus, to seek for her, as you did, mother. I am in love with no dream, however, but with a girl who is real, but further from my reach than any dream.”

His parents pressed him, but he would not say who it was that he loved. At last, Old Graculus said: “I think that I know. Where is it that the young prince spends most of his time.”

“Oh! I know,” Noggin replied. “On the island; Nogbad's old steam-driven island.”

“And who does he talk to there?”

“The mermaids,” Nooka replied. “Oh.”

Knut smiled sadly. “It is true; I am in love with one of the mermaids, and she with me, but we are of different worlds; I can not even speak her name, for mermaids' names can only be pronounced underwater. We can never be together. I have promised to take the island back to warmer waters so that she and her sister can return to their world.”

“Then that is what you must do,” Noggin agreed. “Prepare your island and take the mermaids home, with your parents' blessing.”

Knut left the hall, feeling low. He went down to the harbour and rowed out to the island, where the mermaids greeted him with a sad song. The sister that Knut was not in love with swam out and guided his boat in, while her sister hung back and watched with eyes as melancholy as his own.

“I wish you would not come here,” the mermaid said. “It hurts you both and I hate to see that.”

“I had to come,” Knut replied. “I have my father's blessing to take you home and I must prepare the island.”

At that the mermaid sang for joy, but Knut and the other mermaid could not feel it.

Knut cooled the boiler in the volcano at the island's heart and hacked off the salt that had built up in the tanks and the pipes. Then he refilled the tank with fresh water, ferrying it across in his boat, and brought barrels and barrels more for drinking. He brought stacks of wood for the fire and piled them in the dry caves. The island was rich with fruit and at least as long as he travelled with the mermaids he would never lack for fish, but he loaded the storerooms with grain, salted meat and vegetables, beer and flasks of mead.

At last, he was ready. He stoked the boiler, waved farewell to his parents – who stood watching on the shore – cut the moorings and set off. As the island cleared the black rocks, however, a dark shape appeared in the sky above and quickly grew larger as it descended. As it dropped, Knut could see that it was a great green bird, with a little man hanging from its talons.

“You were never thinking o' going without us?” the little man accused.

“Never, Knock mac Ronf,” Knut replied with a smile.

“We're glad to hear it,” Young Graculus assured him. “I've been with you since I was an egg.”

“And we've been friends since my father brought us down from the Hot Water Valley to dwell among the Nogs,” Knock mac Ronf added.

“I know, my friends,” Knut agreed, “and it will be good to travel with you.”

Despite these words, however, Knut's melancholy would not lift from him. He would sit by the lagoon, day after day, speaking to the mermaid that he loved and who loved him.

At last, however, they came to the warm waters of the southern oceans and Knut knew that it was time for him to part from his beloved. Before she left, the mermaid came to speak to Knut one last time.

“I shall think of you always,” she told him, “but my life will be long, as is the way of mermaids, and I shall have time to love again. You do not have that, so I wish to give you a gift. My sister and I shall sing to you as you sleep.”

“I don't want to forget you,” Knut insisted.

“I will not make you forget, but I shall make the memories easier,” the mermaid promised.

And so that night, as Knut and his companions slept, the mermaids sang, and their voices wove a spell that made them dream that many years went by in that single night. When Knut awoke, it was as though he had parted from the mermaid decades before, and the memory was sad, but distant.

“My friends,” he said to Knock and Graculus, “let's travel for a while before we return home.”

Knock and Graculus agreed that this seemed an excellent idea, and the three of them set the island's course to the east. They looked ahead to the horizon, but none of them looked back to see the white shape hanging in the air above them.

*

The next day, Young Graculus was woken by the angry cries of Knock mac Ronf.

“Get up, you scraggy old bird! Prince Knut's missing!”

“Missing?” Graculus grumbled. “Where could he be? We're on an island!”

“Well, he  _isn't_!”

Knock ran down to where Knut had been sleeping and searched for any sign of tracks, but the sand blew away even as he tried to look.

“You daft bird!” Knock snapped. “Go up high and see if you can see him!”

“Sorry,” Graculus cawed, and he flew up and away, leaving Knock alone. After a few minutes he swept down again to report. “I can see something, far away; a flock of black birds and one great, white one. I think it is one of my people!”

“And I found tracks around where Knut was sleeping; the footprints of a tall woman, and of one of my own people. Where is yon flock flying to? We must set course to follow.”

*

Prince Knut awoke to find the ground falling away beneath him. His stomach lurched and by the time he could draw breath to cry out, he was too far from the island for his friends to hear him. His arms and wrists ached.

He looked down and saw the sea rushing past. He looked up and saw that his wrists were tied with leather cords. The cords stretched up to the claws of a flock of huge, black crows who were dragging him through the air. He looked left and saw nothing; he looked right and saw a small boat hanging below a pair of fat, cloth bags and driven by great, white-feathered oars.

“Hello!” he called. “Great-Uncle Nogbad, I know it's you! I recognise the crows.”

A head appeared over the rail of the flying machine, but it was not the head of Nogbad the Bad. The pilot of the flying machine was a young woman, and very beautiful, with long, black hair worn under a round cap. Her dark eyes regarded Knut coldly.

“My father has grown old and sickly from the cruelties and indignities heaped upon him by your father, Knut Nogginson! Soon you will regret Noggin's arrogance; and your own.”

The crows carried Knut to an atoll and they dropped him into a cage. A great, white bird gripped the edge of the lid in her talons and swung it closed.

“You're one of Graculus's people!” Knut cried. “Why are you doing this?”

“I do not know any Graculus,” the bird replied. “My name is Arkla and I have served Lord Nogbad all my life. If his daughter asks me to imprison you, what else should I do?”

The flying machine touched down beside the cage. The beautiful young woman stepped out, followed by what Knut at first took to be a little girl, before he realised she was really just a very small woman.

“You're one of the people of the Hot Water Valley,” he said. “Why would you serve Nogbad?”

“I am Siri,” she replied. “I have never known any Hot Water Valley; I have served Lord Nogbad all my life. If his daughter asks me to imprison you, what else should I do?”

“Arkla and Siri have remained true to my father, always; even when  _your_  father stole his throne.”

Knut gripped the bars of his cage tightly. “My father was the rightful heir of my grandfather, King Knut! It was Nogbad who tried always to steal the crown of the Nogs from him!”

“Your lies will not save you, Knut Nogginson. My father will deal with you soon!” Noga turned away with a sweep of her cloak and stalked out, with Siri following at her heels and Arkla swooping over her head.

*

Arkla flew up to the highest point of the atoll and perched there. She looked out across the sea and saw, to her surprise, that the island from which they had abducted Knut now stood less than a mile away. She beat her wings, preparing to take flight and warn her master, but a shadow fell across her and she paused.

A moment later, Young Graculus settled on the rock beside Arkla.

“Greetings, fair one,” he croaked.

“Greetings,” she replied. “I have never seen a bird like you before.”

“Have you never seen your own reflection in a pool?” he asked. “You and I are alike, although I have not seen a great, green bird with feathers so white; nor so beautiful.”

“Then... you are Graculus,” she realised. “I should warn my master you are here, except... seeing you reminds me of things that I have never known. A salt water lake, surrounded by green trees.”

“A lake full of fish,” Graculus agreed. “Blue fish.”

“So good to eat,” Arkla sighed.

“That is the home of the great, green birds! We all of us remember it, even if we have only seen it from within the egg.”

“But Nogbad told me that he made me with his magic.”

“Nonsense! If you remember the lake then you were laid there, and he stole you as an egg.”

“I... remember,” she croaked. “I remember being jolted up and down in my egg. He  _did_  steal me!”

“Will you help us?” Graculus asked.

Arkla shook her head. “I can not leave Siri and lady Noga alone with him.”

“Then help us to help them as well!”

*

Siri was busy, washing clothes by the stream, when Arkla swooped down and dragged her into the air.

“What are you doing, bird?” she demanded.

“There's someone I want you to meet,” Arkla told her. She set Siri down on the island and lifted off again.

“Come back, bird!” Siri demanded, but she stopped short and stared as Knock mac Ronf stepped out from behind the rocks.

“Good day to ye, lassie.” Ronf took off his hat and held it in front of his chest.

Siri's eyes bulged. “But you're... so small,” she gasped. “Like me. Did Lord Nogbad make you by magic as well?”

“Magic?” Knock scoffed. “You weren't made by magic, Siri nic Eife.”

Siri gasped.

“When I was just a baby, another infant was stolen from the Hot Water Valley, the daughter of Naogh mac Roak and Eife nic Ailen. Our people searched for the poor baby for months, but she was gone. We thought for good.”

“I remember being afraid,” Siri whispered. “Confusion and fear and movement.”

“Nogbad stole you from your home and family,” he told her. “We can take you back, if you help us.”

“I won't leave without Lady Noga,” he assured him.

“Then help us to help her as well.”

*

Noga came back to the cage in the evening, bringing a plate of fruit and fish to Knut.

“I'm honoured that you bring me my dinner yourself,” he told her.

“My servants have disappeared,” Noga told him. “I shall not make a habit of this.”

“Nonetheless.” Knut sketched a short bow and began to eat. “You are the daughter of Nogbad?” he asked.

“That is my honour.”

“Who was your mother?”

“My mother was a princess of Pohjola,” Noga replied. “My father loved her dearly, but she died when I was born.”

“I'm sorry to hear that.”

“Had my father been able to bring her to the palace of the Nogs instead of a cold, damp farmhouse, she would not have died.”

Knut frowned. “Nogbad had his castle. It was old and ramshackle, but not cold or damp.”

"He had nothing!” Noga insisted. “He was hounded out of the Northlands and barely escaped with his life!”

“He fled the anger of the people often, but only because he tried to trick them or force them to make him king, with his flowers or his blackwash or his pies full of crows...”

“I don't know what you are talking about. These are lies spread by Noggin.”

“I saw them myself! Nogbad tried to kidnap my entire family on that island of his!”

Noga started up. “Your island! You used it to blast him into the sea.”

“His own exploding engines did that. My father saved his life and he thanked us by leaving us behind while his crows carried him away.”

“I won't listen to this!” Noga swept away. “I only brought you food because I felt sorry for you. I thought you might not be like your father!”

“And I still don't think you're much like yours,” Knut assured her.

*

Arkla brought Siri back to the atoll and they followed Noga into Nogbad's palace, a ramshackle structure of wood and palm fronds. Nogbad sat within, on a throne made of bamboo, his body hunched over and his face twisted with years of malice. 

“Well, my dear?” he asked. “What do you make of Noggin's son?”

“He says you are wicked, father,” Noga said.

“He is deceitful, like his father,” Nogbad declared.

“I do not think so,” Noga insisted. “He believes what he says. There is no deceit in his face.”

Nogbad chuckled. “Do not let a handsome face fool you, Noga,” he warned. “He is Noggin's son, wicked through and through.”

Noga shook her head, but bowed before her father. “As you say.”

*

Noga walked down to the shore and sat on the reef. Siri sat and Arkla perched beside her.

“He does not seem like a liar,” Noga sighed. “I wanted to believe him; he seems so... good.”

“Perhaps you should listen to your heart?” Siri suggested.

“But my father would not lie to me!”

“He has lied to us,” Arkla replied. “He told us that he made us, but that was not true. Perhaps he has told you falsehoods as well.”

“We have both served him long,” Siri said, “and although I was just a baby, Arkla remembers a time before she knew you.”

“But I have no memory of your mother,” Arkla croaked. “Only of a story I heard; of a widower who went mad with grief at his wife's death and came back to himself to find his daughter stolen away.”

Noga hung her head in sorrow.

“Who does your heart tell you to trust?” Siri asked.

*

Confused, Noga went back to the palace. “You're right,” she told him. “Knut said that you tried to force the Nogs to give up the crown using flowers. I should have realised at once that he was lying.”

“Of course,” Nogbad agreed, adding in a muttered voice: “Wretched Grundlestein's greater gripewort and its sunny disposition.” His face darkened as he spoke, and Noga realised as she had never done before how much her father had been twisted by hate.

“I... am sorry to have doubted,” Noga said.

*

Knut looked up in surprise when Noga returned. “I thought I had seen the last of you,” he said.

Arkla and Graculus swooped down and tore open the top of the cage. Meanwhile, Siri and Knock were readying the flying machine.

“I am sorry for carrying you away,” Noga said. “Will you grant me your protection from the man who claimed to be my father.”

Knut climbed out of the cage and took her hand. “I will,” he promised.

*

The flying machine carried them to the island and the island took them back to the Northlands. Nogbad pursued them and demanded that Noggin hand over his daughter, but Noggin refused. He reminded Nogbad of the child who had been stolen in the land of Kaleva, and of his abandoned Nog-wife, who still lived in the old, black castle, long-neglected.

Nogbad went grumbling back to his castle, to brew more wickedness.

Not long after, Knut and Noga took the flying machine north to the land of Kaleva. There they met Noga's father, whose delight at seeing his daughter restored to him was matched only by her joy at seeing that he was a good, honest man with none of Nogbad's bitterness or envy.

Some months later, Noggin found that he was worried once more about his son, for Knut was again wearing a sad and melancholy expression wherever he went. This time, he sought out his son on his own and asked him: “What troubles you, son?”

“It is Noga,” Knut admitted. “I have been in love with her since the first moment I saw her, but now she is settled with her father I don't have the nerve to ask her to leave all that behind again and be my queen. Would you go to Kaleva and ask her if she would marry me?”

Noggin shook her head. “I once asked your grandfather to ask Nooka for her hand in marriage, and I have always regretted not asking her myself,” he explained. “She deserved to hear the question from me.”

And so Knut travelled once more to Kaleva asked Noga to be his wife.

“Of course,” she agreed with a dazzling smile.

And many are the tales of King Knut II and Queen Noga, but those are not this tale, and this tale is done.


End file.
